Author Archive: Bob Shrubb

A café will open in Ashford for people who need help and support with their mental health over the weekend.

The Wellbeing Café will run as a six-month pilot on Friday and Saturday nights and is funded by NHS Ashford Clinical Commissioning Group.

It will mean that people who experience anxiety, low mood, loneliness and isolation can drop in and speak to a trained mental health support worker over a cup of tea or coffee.

The café will be based in House, Stour Centre, Tannery Lane and opens on Friday 23 October from 6pm until 9.30pm. It will be operated on behalf of the Ashford Mental Health Action Group (MHAG) by a group of partners including Maidstone and Mid Kent Mind and Speakup CIC. (more…)

Do you know a friend or relative who would benefit from extra help during a power cut?

UK Power Networks is encouraging vulnerable people to sign up to its free Priority Services Register, which means they will be offered extra help during a power cut such as:

✔ A welcome pack with useful advice about preparing for a power cut
✔ A priority phone number that you can call 24 hours and updates until your power is back on
✔ Regular text message updates if you text ‘Power’ followed by your postcode to 80876
✔ Home visit from our staff or through our charity partnership with the British Red Cross (more…)

We’ve just carried out some new independent research, surveying 2,000 people, from which one of the main findings is that cybercrime is getting personal – with one in five victims believing that they were specifically targeted by fraudsters. We’ve collated the data and put together this infographic, depicting statistics around habits, threats, issues and opinions split by gender and age groups. It makes some very interesting reading. (more…)

For years, scammers claiming that they’re “calling from Windows” have dialed up Microsoft customers and done their best to trick them into parting with their money or installing malicious wares. Now, the swindlers are turning their sights on Mac users.

Researchers at antivirus provider Malwarebytes spotted a Web-based campaign that attempts to trick OS X and iOS users into thinking there’s something wrong with their devices. The ruse starts with a pop-up window that’s designed to look like an official OS notification. “Critical Security Warning!” it says. “Your Device (iPad, iPod, iPhone) is infected with a malicious adward [sic] attack.” It goes on to provide a phone number people can call to receive tech support.

Last week a resident in Canterbury opened their door to a man wearing a uniform and speaking with an Irish accent. The man claimed to be investigating work done to their driveway and asked for a phone number. Later that same day a man telephoned the resident and told them they had to pay £3500 to the court which they would receive back with their compensation. (more…)

1. Don’t publish your date of birth in your profile or highlight your birthday in posts or tweets. Why not? Your date of birth is very useful information for a fraudster, hacker or identity thief.

2. Remember that if you use the names of pets, family members, a sports team or other ‘favourite’ things in your passwords or memorable words, and reveal your likes and dislikes online, you may be handing a criminal clues to your login details.

3. Don’t reveal your passport number, driving licence number or any other official details to anyone unless you’re absolutely sure that they are authentic, and that providing these details is necessary. For example, if a prospective employer or agency asks you for a passport scan as proof

of ability to work in the UK, check their authenticity.

4. Don’t get fooled into revealing your PINs or passwords in response to an email, social networking post, text or phone call, however convincing it seems that the request is from your bank, the police or another real organisation.

5. Don’t write down or store login details electronically or on paper, where there’s a chance they could be found.

6. Never open an email attachment unless you’re 100% certain of who sent it, or what it is. This is because it could contain a virus that steals your personal information. Even an email that seems to come from a friend or colleague could have been sent by a virus on their device. If in doubt, ask the person you believe sent it before opening anything

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